Semiconductor Dies; In General
Improved methods for miniaturization of semiconductor devices have permitted the integration of millions of transistor circuit elements onto a single silicone embodiment thereof. Such a circuit is typically referred to as an integrated circuit chip or semiconductor die.
Semiconductor dies are created from a silicon wafer through the employment of various etching, doping and depositing steps that are well known in the art. Ultimately, the semiconductor die may be packaged by encapsulating the semiconductor die to form an "integrated circuit package" having a variety of pin-out or mounting and interconnection schemes. More sophisticated integrated circuit packages have been developed for very large scale integration ("VLSI") semiconductor dies. Such integrated circuit packages can accommodate the increased number of external connections required with an electronic system.